(Pictured above: AI: More than Human is one of the key events hosted at Barbican Center. Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images)
London Tech Week last month saw the Barbican host two key events aimed at audiences from across both commercial and consumer sectors.
The first, was the Leaders In Tech Summit, the headline thought leadership event at London Tech Week. Returning to London for the third year running, the event saw delegates gather to hear from industry experts from leading brands and organizations.
Speakers included representatives from: Google, Microsoft UK, Vodafone, NHS, Facebook, Strava and the Financial Times. In a forum designed to foster frank conversations about real challenges, threats and opportunities presented by an increasingly digital world, Leaders In Tech brought together tech giants, cross-industry technology leaders as well as start-ups and scaleups.
To conclude London Tech Week, the Barbican also hosted WIRED Pulse AI on June 15. In partnership with leading tech sector media outlet WIRED, Barbican Business Events presented a one-day multi-layered learning experience, exploring what the future holds for artificial intelligence.
Through talks and demonstrations, WIRED Pulse AI at the Barbican explored a range of topics including AI’s effect on creativity, the ethics of algorithms and why more and more businesses are putting decision-making into the virtual hands of AI. Presented by editor of WIRED, Greg Williams, and including a special music performance by Reeps One, WIRED Pulse AI at the Barbican featured an interactive Test Lab and eight high-level keynotes from thought-provoking disruptors. AI: More than Human is at the Barbican until Aug. 26.
“We were thrilled to work with the Barbican on hosting WIRED Pulse AI,” says Greg Williams, editor of WIRED UK. “WIRED’s mission is to cover the people, trends and ideas in technology, science, business, politics and design changing the world—breaking down complex topics into compelling narratives that are easy to digest, relate to and share. Artificial intelligence is one of those topics—and a technology that is rapidly impacting the way we make decisions, interact with each other and behave. It was a fitting collaboration with the Barbican to help open up the conversation with a larger community.”
Kim Vigilia, head of strategy and experience at WIRED UK, adds: “WIRED events are designed to bring to life the fascinating content found across the magazine, website, podcast and videos, combining curated stories with an engaging experience. For our inaugural WIRED Pulse event, we explored some mind-expanding perspectives on the impact of Artificial Intelligence, which was further enhanced through our partnership with the Barbican’s AI: More than Human exhibition. WIRED Pulse, which was also the closing event for London Tech Week, was enjoyed by more than 450 attendees between the ages of 13 and 77, from 14 countries.”
Jackie Boughton, head of Barbican Business Events concludes: “This summer the Barbican’s center-wide exhibition is AI: More Than Human. The ‘festival-style’ exhibition explores creative and scientific developments in AI, demonstrating its potential to revolutionize our lives. With such a focus on technology as well as our ongoing investment in cutting edge event infrastructure, the Barbican was the ideal home for both of these thought-provoking events. For many attendees the content will have changed ideas in both their commercial and personal lives meaning they delivered not just ideas, but long-term legacy for all involved.”
A world-class arts and learning organization, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theater and visual arts. Its creative learning program further underpins everything it does. More than 1 million people attend events annually, hundreds of artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. For more info, visit www.barbican.org.uk.
